Advancements in vein scanning biometrics brings added security

Biometrics is a rapidly evolving technology which offers an effective means of dealing with these kinds of verification and identification concerns. One such provider of biometric and security services, Biometrics and Security, has developed a high-end vein scanning identification system that looks set to astound the biometrics community.

But first, what is biometrics? Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a person based on their physiological or behavioural characteristics. This method of identification often has various advantages over traditional methods involving passwords and PIN numbers. Importantly, the person to be identified is required to be physically present at the point-of-identification. Furthermore, identification based on biometric techniques eliminates the need to remember a password or carry a token of identification. The most popular forms of biometrics are based on face recognition and fingerprint matching. Other biometric systems include those that utilise iris and retinal scan, speech, facial thermograms, and hand geometry.

However, set to change the face of biometrics is the Hand Vascular Pattern Identification system (VP-II) developed by Biometrics and Security. This advanced biometric identification system originates from a conventional vein pattern recognition system. The system verifies or recognises human users by using a sophisticated high-tech recognition algorithm based on hand vascular patterns extracted by an infrared optical sensor system.

As the sensor requires no physical contact, it provides excellent convenience and sanitary use. Importantly, no contact means there are no residual biometric patterns which could be copied, thus preventing potential fraudulent use which can flaw other biometrics systems such as fingerprinting. VP-II shows no performance degradation even with scars or hand contamination, and it also performs in rugged environments such as construction sites, army bases, factories, etc. The makers claim the system is effective in temperatures ranging from -5¼C ~ 50¼C and in 10%~90% humidity. Verification speed is fast (0.4 sec/person) and the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR) are extremely low at 0.0001 % and 0.1% respectively. The result is a high performance, accurate but affordable biometrics system

Most significantly, it is believed that this revolutionary technology could become the benchmark of the biometrics market because its system usability rates at an extremely efficient 99.98%. Biometrics and Security believe that the major innovation of their VP-II technology is the aforementioned system usability, which means the percentage of unspecified adult population that is capable of using the system. Compared to the usability of a fingerprint-based biometrics system which is around about 95% (i.e. one out of twenty adults are unable to use a fingerprint-based system for various reasons), the VP-II provides an unrivalled usability performance in modern biometric systems.

In these modern times of dependence on secure identification, biometrics has been widely used in forensics such as criminal identification and prison security, as well as being used in airport security, government offices and businesses requiring a secure method of personnel authentication.

After Editing or Managing over 50 print publications primarily in the role of a Magazine Doctor, Mike embraced the internet full-time in 1995 and became a "start-up all-rounder" – quite a few start-ups later, he founded Gizmag in 2002. Now he can write again. All articles by Mike Hanlon